Man convicted of kidnapping three women

MURFREESBORO — A kidnapping trial ended Thursday with guilty verdicts on all counts, and with the defendant muttering "dirty cops" repeatedly until the judge threatened to have him removed from the courtroom.

Taris Frazier was convicted of three counts of especially aggravated kidnapping, three counts of aggravated assault, resisting arrest and criminal impersonation.

Frazier was arrested Oct. 29, 2014, after a woman named Teresa Ring told police Frazier had been holding her and two other women in a house at 338 Castle St.

Before the closing arguments, the court heard from Murfreesboro Detective Massey as the state responded to Wednesday’s testimony from Lacreitia Ivy, a woman who arrived at the house with Frazier and was referred to by the victims and Frazier himself as his “baby mama.”

Ivy told the court that she heard one of the women threatening to stab someone and that Frazier was trying to “get them calmed down.”

Assistant District Attorney Matt Westmoreland questioned Massey, who conducted the initial interview with Ivy in 2014, after the incident.

“Did Miss Ivy ever, in that conversation with you, say she heard a female voice saying she was going to stab somebody?” he asked.

“No, she did not,” said Massey.

The guilty verdicts came after closing arguments from both the defense and prosecution, each presenting their version of the events.

Ring told police she had escaped, but the other two women, Amber Waight and Lauren Oldfield, were still there. About an hour and half after police surrounded the house and announced their presences the two women were brought out and Frazier was found hiding under a pile of clothes.

Both prosecution and defense presented the same general timeline. The three women, as well as Yachika Murray, were at the house and were drinking and smoking marijuana.

Frazier arrived and with him was Ivy who was not a neighbor as previously reported, but Frazier’s “baby mama,” according to the victims’ testimony.

Frazier was also heard referring to her as his “baby mama” on a recorded phone call during his initial interrogation.

When Frazier and Ivy arrived at the house on Oct. 28, the four women — Ring, Oldfield, Waight and Murray — went to a back bedroom, but Ring later returned to the living room where Frazier and Ivy were, and an argument ensued.

From that point, the tableaus presented by the prosecution and the defense differed.

Assistant District Attorney Matt Westmoreland began the state’s closing, referring to Frazier as “The King” of Castle Street, saying that when people didn’t do as he said, “They had to pay.”

“A beer bottle, a knife, threats of a gun, you have that,” said Westmoreland. “They were forced to stay. These were real people. This really happened to them. They were held for hours, and when they were disrespectful, this is what happened to them.”

Jimmy Turner, representing Frazier, referred to Ivy’s testimony. He questioned Murray’s testimony from Monday, when the witness said she was able to leave the house and go home, but she never called the police.

“She’s not getting the Friend of the Year Award,” said Turner. “People call the police when they are worried their friends are in danger.”

He also discounted Ring’s testimony.

“She has made a career of lying to the police,” said Turner, referring to Ring’s two convictions for criminal impersonation.

He said she lied about Murray’s presence at the house, as well as sexual abuse Frazier was alleged to have committed with Oldfield over the course of the evening.

“Who made those women go into the back room?” asked Turner. “Ms. Ring made those women go into the back room.”

Turner said there was “definitely a lot of drama” that night and recalled testimony from the state’s witness, Lauren Oldfield, who said Ring had been hooking up with Frazier before, but he was now with Ivy.

Turner said it wasn’t hard to believe there was drama, with Ring “combining crack cocaine and marijuana with paranoid schizophrenia.”

He mentioned that Oldfield, a convicted thief, didn’t bring up the sexual-abuse allegations until 16 months later.

Turner also contended the women could have left.

“Ring testified he (Frazier) dropped the knife. Does that sound like confinement?” Turner asked.

He also questioned the relationship between Frazier and Ivy.

“You heard that phone call,” he said. “He had to tell her his name. Spell it, first and last.”

Both assistant district attorneys, Westmoreland and Sarah Davis, provided the state’s closing arguments, with Westmoreland being first.

Davis concluded, addressing many of the issues Turner brought up. She noted that many of the people involved had nicknames they went by, such as Frazier being called “Boo,” saying it was no surprise Ivy didn’t know his real name.

Davis also addressed the defense’s attempts to impeach the witnesses.

“We all know after the last two days something very bad happened,” Davis said.

She said if she decided to take a short cut home through a dark alley and got mugged, she would have made a bad decision, but she would still be a victim.

“These three women are just as much protected under the law,” she said, adding that they didn’t have that protection from Frazier.